Google is such a simple tool with many useful and engaging applications that teachers can incorporate it to work with any style of teaching. What do we want to see in our classrooms as a result of our pedagogy? The newest theoretical framework "Connectivism" is relative when applying the use of Google to pedagogy.
Connectivism Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization
theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under
the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an
organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us
to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.
Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information
is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital.
The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical.
Principles of connectivism:
Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources
Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming informationis seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.
Google for educators is a landing spot for classroom resources that incorporate Google products like Google Earth, SketchUp, Maps, and Sky. The site offers everything from simple links to the aforementioned products, to classroom activities for various K-12 grade levels.
There are downloadable PDF posters covering Google search tips for kids, Google Scholar, Book Search, and Google Earth, and there are activities that utilize various media like PDFs, wikis, podcasts, and websites. These activities are organized by grade level: K-5, 6-12, and "all levels."
The Google for educators site also links to their "teacher community" which is a Google group filled with threads about using the many Google offerings in a school classroom.
To find out exactly how teachers are using Google in today's classrooms, we started a discussion in Google Groups (Google for Educators Discussion group) and recieved the following testimonials.
McDougleC wrote:
I have used Docs, Forms, Blogger, and Sites with students. I used google sites as a classroom homepage. Visit here at//www.mrsmcdougle.com//.
On the site you can see my contact form is an emeded google form. I
found this nice because it kept a database of who, when, and why
people contacted me. I also used a google form to do a survey with the students to find out
their tech knowledge
<iframe src="//https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?// formkey=cnpKamhFMFFlQ0NVYjR5ZmxYZEh4d1E6MA.." width="760"
height="4942" frameborder="0" marginheight="0"
marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>
The students took the survey and then I quickly gained a grasp on what
my students knew. Very helpful! Students and I also shared a Doc to have a conversation about
developing a blog or website of their interest. Some student then also
created a blog using blogger. I did this during my student teaching and have further researched how
I would do it better next time.
Lisa wrote:
I teach first grade.... We were studying maps....Google maps is great! No more drawing maps
on the board etc. But then....I asked a student for their address and we brought up
their actual house on Google street.....WOW! The look on their face
was priceless!
The I found out how few students didn't know their exact address. I
told them to go home learn it and be able to tell me their address the
next day and we would look for their house. EVERYONE knew their
address the next day! So thanks for making a teacher's life easier!
MarcusAquinas wrote:
I teach Middle School Social Studies, but have only been using some of
the online Google apps for a bit more than a month. On the whole, I'm
finding it very useful. I use GMail to communicate with my students,
both to send/receive assignments and also for them to ask questions or
ask for clarifications. I'm finding that many students who are
reluctant to speak out in class are much more willing to do so through
email. I have been using the Forms in Google Docs for simple assignments and
quizzes. It took a bit to work out an efficient method (for me,
anyway) of getting those assignments graded. My current solution is to
export the spreadsheet into Excel. There are a couple of good self-
grading templates available, but they will only work for really simple
stuff like multiple-choice and matching. Everything else hits a wall
due to spelling. I am still working out the kinks of using Calendar. Not because the
app itself is so very complicated, but because it doesn't seem to play
well with Outlook or Thunderbird (Lighting plug-in). I'm told that it
plays pretty well with Sunbird, but I haven't tried it. A couple of hiccups prevent me from using the apps to their fullest
potential, though. First, my students use laptops connecting through a
wireless access point. I can get about half of them connected to
Google Docs at any given time, but that's iffy for the half that can
and an impossibility for the half that can't. I think the limiting
factor is the available bandwidth for the wireless and the only work-
around that I see is to use a wired connection. I just don't have
enough network ports or patch cables for that, so I have fallen back
on using Office locally and attaching files to emails. Tedious, but it
gets the job done.
The following Youtube video was made by a year three class, highlighting how they use Google in their classroom.
As Google is readily accessible from the internet, all you need to use this tool is computers and the internet. As most schools have some form of technology these days, it is possible to include Google in your style of teaching.
Today
This is your typical computer lab that you will most probably find if you visited a school.Children have acces to some form of ICT in their classroom but have to leave their rooms and go to a computer lab to access computers. What we need to start seeing to keep up with the changes happening in ICT is this:
Tomorrow
Ideally having access to computers at all times in their own classrooms is what children need to truely harness the full potential of ICT. The Rudd government proposal of "A laptop for every student" is the first step to providing school children the technology that will be required for the changes regarding ICT and Education. If we expect student-centered, engaged classrooms with the technologies fully blended into the daily routines, the computers belong where they will do the most good, not sequestered in a back corner or shoved against a back wall. Many teachers with project-based, problem-based classrooms elect to spread their computers about so that they serve as interest centers. In some classrooms it is difficult to find a "front" to the classroom because the focus is on learning instead of teaching (Makenzie, 1998)
Characteristics of Engaged Learners* Responsible for their own learning They invest personally in the quest for knowledge and understanding, in part because the questions or issues being investigated are drawn from their own curiosity about the world. Projects are pertinent and questions are essential.
Energized by learning They feel excited, intrigued and motivated to solve the puzzles, make new answers and reach insight. Their work feels both important and worthwhile.
Strategic They make thoughtful choices from a toolkit of strategies, considering carefully which approach, which source and which technique may work best to resolve a particular information challenge.
Collaborative They work with others in a coordinated, planful manner, splitting up the work according to a plan and sharing good ideas during the search for understanding.
Additional Resources for further reading Labor party leader Kevin Rudd has today promised a AU$1 billion fund to give every senior secondary school student in years 9 to 12 access to a computer at school.
Link to article on the above topic. http://www.zdnet.com.au/rudd-promises-a-computer-on-every-school-desk-339283831.htm Retreived, 4 April, 2010.
Google + Pedagogy = GOOGLGOGY
Google is such a simple tool with many useful and engaging applications that teachers can incorporate it to work with any style of teaching. What do we want to see in our classrooms as a result of our pedagogy? The newest theoretical framework "Connectivism" is relative when applying the use of Google to pedagogy.Connectivism
Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization
theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under
the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an
organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us
to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.
Connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information
is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital.
The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical.
Principles of connectivism:
Google Educators
Link to Google for Educators http://www.google.com/educators/index.html
There are downloadable PDF posters covering Google search tips for kids, Google Scholar, Book Search, and Google Earth, and there are activities that utilize various media like PDFs, wikis, podcasts, and websites. These activities are organized by grade level: K-5, 6-12, and "all levels."
The Google for educators site also links to their "teacher community" which is a Google group filled with threads about using the many Google offerings in a school classroom.
Retreived, 28 March, 2010 from http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/05/07/google-for-educators-integrate-google-in-the-classroom/
Googlemonials
To find out exactly how teachers are using Google in today's classrooms, we started a discussion in Google Groups (Google for Educators Discussion group) and recieved the following testimonials.
McDougleC wrote:
I have used Docs, Forms, Blogger, and Sites with students.
I used google sites as a classroom homepage. Visit here at //www.mrsmcdougle.com//.
On the site you can see my contact form is an emeded google form. I
found this nice because it kept a database of who, when, and why
people contacted me.
I also used a google form to do a survey with the students to find out
their tech knowledge
<iframe src="//https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?//
formkey=cnpKamhFMFFlQ0NVYjR5ZmxYZEh4d1E6MA.." width="760"
height="4942" frameborder="0" marginheight="0"
marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>
The students took the survey and then I quickly gained a grasp on what
my students knew. Very helpful!
Students and I also shared a Doc to have a conversation about
developing a blog or website of their interest. Some student then also
created a blog using blogger.
I did this during my student teaching and have further researched how
I would do it better next time.
Lisa wrote:
I teach first grade....
We were studying maps....Google maps is great! No more drawing maps
on the board etc.
But then....I asked a student for their address and we brought up
their actual house on Google street.....WOW! The look on their face
was priceless!
The I found out how few students didn't know their exact address. I
told them to go home learn it and be able to tell me their address the
next day and we would look for their house. EVERYONE knew their
address the next day!
So thanks for making a teacher's life easier!
MarcusAquinas wrote:
I teach Middle School Social Studies, but have only been using some of
the online Google apps for a bit more than a month. On the whole, I'm
finding it very useful. I use GMail to communicate with my students,
both to send/receive assignments and also for them to ask questions or
ask for clarifications. I'm finding that many students who are
reluctant to speak out in class are much more willing to do so through
email.
I have been using the Forms in Google Docs for simple assignments and
quizzes. It took a bit to work out an efficient method (for me,
anyway) of getting those assignments graded. My current solution is to
export the spreadsheet into Excel. There are a couple of good self-
grading templates available, but they will only work for really simple
stuff like multiple-choice and matching. Everything else hits a wall
due to spelling.
I am still working out the kinks of using Calendar. Not because the
app itself is so very complicated, but because it doesn't seem to play
well with Outlook or Thunderbird (Lighting plug-in). I'm told that it
plays pretty well with Sunbird, but I haven't tried it.
A couple of hiccups prevent me from using the apps to their fullest
potential, though. First, my students use laptops connecting through a
wireless access point. I can get about half of them connected to
Google Docs at any given time, but that's iffy for the half that can
and an impossibility for the half that can't. I think the limiting
factor is the available bandwidth for the wireless and the only work-
around that I see is to use a wired connection. I just don't have
enough network ports or patch cables for that, so I have fallen back
on using Office locally and attaching files to emails. Tedious, but it
gets the job done.
The following Youtube video was made by a year three class, highlighting how they use Google in their classroom.
"Google Rocks" Retreived, 28 March, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAReSuJR9nk
Classroom and student organisation
As Google is readily accessible from the internet, all you need to use this tool is computers and the internet. As most schools have some form of technology these days, it is possible to include Google in your style of teaching.Today
This is your typical computer lab that you will most probably find if you visited a school.Children have acces to some form of ICT in their classroom but have to leave their rooms and go to a computer lab to access computers. What we need to start seeing to keep up with the changes happening in ICT is this:
Tomorrow
Ideally having access to computers at all times in their own classrooms is what children need to truely harness the full potential of ICT. The Rudd government proposal of "A laptop for every student" is the first step to providing school children the technology that will be required for the changes regarding ICT and Education. If we expect student-centered, engaged classrooms with the technologies fully blended into the daily routines, the computers belong where they will do the most good, not sequestered in a back corner or shoved against a back wall. Many teachers with project-based, problem-based classrooms elect to spread their computers about so that they serve as interest centers. In some classrooms it is difficult to find a "front" to the classroom because the focus is on learning instead of teaching (Makenzie, 1998)
Characteristics of Engaged Learners*
Responsible for their own learning They invest personally in the quest for knowledge and understanding, in part because the questions or issues being investigated are drawn from their own curiosity about the world. Projects are pertinent and questions are essential.
Energized by learning They feel excited, intrigued and motivated to solve the puzzles, make new answers and reach insight. Their work feels both important and worthwhile.
Strategic They make thoughtful choices from a toolkit of strategies, considering carefully which approach, which source and which technique may work best to resolve a particular information challenge.
Collaborative They work with others in a coordinated, planful manner, splitting up the work according to a plan and sharing good ideas during the search for understanding.
*These concepts are based upon the work of Barbara Means quoted in Plugging In.
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/edtalk/toc.htm as cited in Makenzie, 1998.
Makenzie, J (1998). The Wired CLassroom. Retrieved, 5 April, 2010, from http://www.fno.org/mar98/flotilla.html
Additional Resources for further reading
Labor party leader Kevin Rudd has today promised a AU$1 billion fund to give every senior secondary school student in years 9 to 12 access to a computer at school.
Link to article on the above topic. http://www.zdnet.com.au/rudd-promises-a-computer-on-every-school-desk-339283831.htm Retreived, 4 April, 2010.